Legal problems and obstacles regarding the exploitation and commercial activities in agricultural land reform areas

Abstract

            This thesis aims to study legal problems and obstacles concerning on commercial operations in agricultural land reform areas. This study focuses on analyzing the provisions of the Agricultural Land Reform Committee's regulations for farmers and farmer institutions who receive land from agricultural land reform, regarding land use practice, B.E. 2535 (1992), and the Agricultural Land Reform Committee's announcement regarding other activities supporting or related to agricultural land reform, as prescribed by the Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives under Section 30, paragraph 5 of the Agricultural Land Reform Act, B.E. 2518 (1975) (amended by the Agricultural Land Reform Act (No. 3), B.E. 2532 (1989)), including the Agricultural Land Reform Act, B.E. 2518 (1975), to identify appropriate measures for prosecuting encroachment, trading, or excavation of soil in land reform areas, which impact the long-term effectiveness of agricultural land area protection.

            From the study of farmers’ agricultural land use problems in areas of the Agricultural Land Reform Office (ALRO), despite the government allocates land to poor farmers through the Agricultural Land Reform Act, B.E. 2518 (1975), there are problems with permitting soil to be removed from the Agricultural Land Reform Office (ALRO) area. This has led to problems with land use for commercial activities. While land use has been permitted for agricultural purposes, such as the establishment of gas stations or production input factor stores, the lack of clarity regarding the size, scope, and purpose of such land has resulted in unfair discretion. This has led to problems with the determination of offenses and penalties, which do not cover cases of buying, selling, encroaching, excavating of soil, or topsoil in the land reform area.

             Recommendations from the study, it is recommended that there should be revision of the Agricultural Land Reform Committee's regulations regarding farmers and farmer institutions who receive land from agricultural land reform regarding land use practice, B.E. 2535 (1992) (Amended (No. 4) B.E. 2566 (2023)), Clause 9 and amended Clause 9/1 and there should be revision of the announcement of the Agricultural Land Reform Committee regarding other activities supporting or related to agricultural land reform as announced by the Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives in accordance with Section 30, paragraph 5 of the Agricultural Land Reform Act, B.E. 2518 (1975), (amended by the Agricultural Land Reform Act (No. 3), B.E. 2532 (1989)), B.E. 2563 (2020), Clause 1.5 and there should be amendment of the Agricultural Land Reform Act, B.E. 2518 (1975), Section 49, Section 50, Section 51, specifying penalties in the case of buying, selling, encroaching, excavating of soil, or topsoil in the land reform area.